Help with ball-joints.

[Duallylife]

I'm having trouble finding lower ball joints for my 93k3500. Problem starts here. Not original LCA's I changed them when I did torsion bars a year ago. The "new" LCA's came from a 2000 obs (yes still gmt400 platform rare bird I guess?) K2500. Now I have had to search almost 6 months to find bushings for these Damm things and finally found one's that fit. The original 93 where I think what they call the stamped not forged? Those didn't fit. My 96 has what looks like the same LCA's, those didn't fit. I tried ordering for the exact truck I got them from then 00 k2500 every parts store kept saying it was the NBS for that year and they didn't fit either. I had to get ones for a 04, (some early 00's trucks I see have the same LCA's.)

Now it's ball joints. The original ones for these LCA's are on caliper about 48.1mm around the splines. I tried 96 balljoints (since my 96 looks the same but figured they wouldn't work since the bushings didn't and I was right...) they were 45mm. I now tried 2004 ball joints and they are 49.5 - 50mm around the splines... What the hell LCA's do I have here guys? Did I find some rare 2month only unicorn ones in the scrap yard? Frustrating FyI they are press in, here is pics of both the left and right LCA's I'm dealing with to hopefully help figure out what they are. I just realized I do keep saying they are for a 3500 when ordering the ball-joints though, because from what I can tell 3500 and 2500 are the same? Am I wrong could that be the issue? Like I said from I can tell the 2500 and 3500's are all the same for gmt400's and the stamped and forged control arms are interchangeable cause that's what I did.

 

[RichLo]

Just a guess but since you took them out of a 2000 gmt400, are you sure it was a K2500 not a K3500HD?

 

[Duallylife]

Didn't the 3500HD's only come in cab&chassis? And in dually form? This was a ext cab 6.5 diesel 8ft box 8lug SRW. I can't exactly remember but I think it even said 2500 on the side and I think had a smaller leaf pack in the back (then my 3500 dually, the main pack was smaller and didn't have the over loads)

 

[454cid]

The "new" LCA's came from a 2000 obs (yes still gmt400 platform rare bird I guess?) K2500.

Rare? No ALL 1-ton GM trucks were GMT-400s until the 2001, when the HD's were introduced. The 3/4 tons could be had in either platform, but I think the 800 was sort of a mix/match 1/2 ton. I worked with a guy that bought one new, and he had issues with it and didn't have it long.

Now I have had to search almost 6 months to find bushings for these Damm things and finally found one's that fit. The original 93 where I think what they call the stamped not forged? Those didn't fit. My 96 has what looks like the same LCA's, those didn't fit. I tried ordering for the exact truck I got them from then 00 k2500 every parts store kept saying it was the NBS for that year and they didn't fit either. I had to get ones for a 04, (some early 00's trucks I see have the same LCA's.)

Whenever the parts store person tells you something like that, that's your signal to look into it more. There's something non-standard there, and they're happy to be unhelpful and move on... which does you no good at all. Make sure you know more than they do. In this case we know GM was in a platform change. Lots of parts counter people don't think past 1/2 ton trucks. I once had a guy try to punch my truck in as a 1/2 ton "because they're all the same".

The lower control arms for the HD 800s were either the same forging machined a little different, or a different forging that was a drawing board modification of the 400 part. I've never seen the 800 forging up close, but t doesn't surprise me that that bushings fit. In fact, I think I've heard of guys doing just what you did, since for some reason the availabilty is better for the 800 parts. GM must have changed them just slightly so they're not listed as fitting our trucks.

Now it's ball joints. The original ones for these LCA's are on caliper about 48.1mm around the splines. I tried 96 balljoints (since my 96 looks the same but figured they wouldn't work since the bushings didn't and I was right...) they were 45mm.

Your 93 may have originally had the stamp arms with the forged ends, and I don't know of those took a different ball joint or not.... no matter now as you've got the 2000 forged arms.

Your 96 must have stamped arms. Looking up my 99, I find 46.13mm for the stamped arms, and 47.89mm for the forged. Order the 47.89 for the forged.

I have MOOG K6509

More Information for MOOG K6509

 

[Frank Enstein]

My supposedly 92 K3500 uses bolt-in lower ball joints just to muddy the waters!

 

[454cid]

My supposedly 92 K3500 uses bolt-in lower ball joints just to muddy the waters!

That might be what I was thinking of, when I mentioned the stamped arms with forged ends....I guess the end is actually part of the ball joint.

 

[offroadtahoe]

when looking for parts i always search 88-98 just keeps from having to accidently mess with gmt800 stuff,even though i have a 2000 gmt400 tahoe,i just swapped my stamped arms with forged and did the bushings,for future reference the poly bushings kit part is prothane #7206,,the rubber is Front Lower Forward #ACDELCO 45G9213,Front Lower Rearward MOOG #K200899 also the bushings for forged arms lower arms do not have a metal outer shell,they are just rubber.and as for the ball joints i used mevotech #TXMS50570 (forged) or you can use mevotech #TXK6477 (stamped steel) if your trying to get them from the parts store,go with moog #K6477 (46.13 mm) for the stamped steel and K6509 for the forged (47.89 mm) hope this helps!

 

[Duallylife]

Yes my 93 originaly had stamped arms with bolt in ball joints, never had issues finding parts for them... Honestly rather those then these press in. Much harder to change even my axle has to come out now, didn't have to before. Half hour per side with tire off & back on if I was rushing lol.

But I upgraded torsion bars last fall since my 1,100lb plow sagged my originals beyond sagged... bolts maxed out and still sat on the stops before the plow... When I changed the bars I had to change keys and arms since they were rusted in so bad. I had OEM spare keys but the arms I got off a truck at a scrap yard, everything measured out the same (ball joint to mounting point distance etc) so I knew it would butch angles.

But yes from what i have learned in the last year the originals were what people called stamped and these new ones are forged. I got the Moog k6658 bushing kit, covered both frontward and rearward, they seemed to go in smooth enough and fit the control arms, truck and bolts nicely. I'll call the parts store tomorrow with those numbers! Thank you for the info.

 

[stutaeng]

I've got a 2000 K3500 CCLB SRW GMT 400 and a 1999 Silverado ECSB 1500 2wd GMT800.

When cross referencing, I often select 98 for the K3500 and 01 for the Silverado to avoid the getting wrong parts. Hasn't failed me yet. I'm not aware of any real significant changes on the 98-00 years K2500/3500. Likewise, on the GMT 800 the 99-01 are pretty much unchanged on the 1500 series.

I'd say just use 1998 for your parts search.

 

[454cid]

I'd say just use 1998 for your parts search.

There's no reason to do that when looking up regular replacement parts. It's only the accessory/high-performance companies that don't seem to know what to do with our trucks, from what I've seen..... or the guy behind the counter doesn't know his intake from his exhaust.